How to loosen a painted screw
I have been working on some painting projects around the house and I needed to remove a badly damaged screen door. As you can see from the picture, the hinge had been painted over many times. I tried and tried and was afraid I would strip the head of the screw. I was using a heat gun to strip the paint, so I decied to heat the hinge with the heat gun and tried again. It worked!!
Tools used and hinge removed…YEA
First Day of school – Cricut – Stampin Up Card
My great-niece, Leeann started kindergarten this year. Of course I needed to send her a card. I was at Hobby Lobby and ran across this cute ribbon and used it as the basis for my card.
I cut the image out with my Cricut and used the Everyday Pater Dolls cartridge. If you would like to order Stampin Up paper to complete this card, you can order it here.
Melted crayon art
My niece Kathleen asked me to help her with her redo of her bedroom at her Dad’s house, so we have been having “Craft Days”. This is the first in a series of these posts as we enjoy the FUN!
You will need:
unpainted canvas (we used 11 x 14 and got them at Hobby Lobby the two pack economy canvas – 40% coupon)
old or new crayons
cardboard
hot glue gun
vinyl
Cricut
hair dryer
Kathleen had some old crayons she wanted to use and she didn’t want her crayons to be left on the canvas when she was done. She started with a 14 inch piece of cardboard. She laid out the crayons in the color order she found pleasing. (great job). She took the paper off the crayons she brought. We had to add some other crayons to complete the 14″ and they had the paper on them. She glued the crayons on to the edge of the cardboard with a hot glue gun.
melted crayon art
We used the Cricut Craft Room mentioned in the earlier post, to cut the vinyl.
Cricut Craft Room melted Crayon Art
I held the cardboard while Kathleen used a hair dryer set on high and high heat to melt the crayons. We do have a few tips :
First: melt the crayons outside or in a well protected area. Some of the crayons did “splash” while we were heating them and trying to get them to melt.
Second: make sure you have the crayons on tight when you are gluing them down.
Third: it really didn’t matter if the crayons had paper on them or not, they both seemed to melt the same.
Melted Crayon Art after the first canvas
We felt that we had enough of the crayons left to make another canvas, so we tried it again.
Melted crayon art after the second canvas
melted crayon art
The two on the left are the first ones we made. If you notice, the Dream on the top left has splashes of red-orange. This is because we didn’t have one of the crayons on tight, so it fell off while it was melting and made marks down the canvas. We then tried to mask it with drops of red-orange. The top right was one of the second one’s we completed. It splashed a little. Notice that the art on the right has less wax, but we still liked the effect.
Original Ohio State t-shirt used
My sister’s 60th Birthday was this month and I wanted to give her a special gift. She is an avid OSU fan. I decided it was time to finish that quilt I started in 2003. In 2003 there was a show on TV called “While you were out.” Well my sister was on her way to AZ on a bus trip to watch her beloved Buckeye’s in the National Championship Game. I got the bright idea to redo her bedroom while she was gone. The idea snowballed and the whole family got onboard with the project. I did the bedroom and the rest of the family did the living room. I knew I wanted to do a Buckeye bedroom and I was trying to come up with an idea for a quilt. I ran across a t-shirt that belonged to her granddaughter, Cassidy. I thought it would make an awesome quilt. I took the t-shirt to Staples and put it on the copy machine and just kept enlarging it until I got it to the size I wanted. The quilt top was all white and I could not think of how to quilt it, so it sat in my UFO pile for 9 years. I ran across a quilt pattern that had the red and gray diagonal around a block O . This was the ticket to finishing the quilt. I loved the outcome.
I guess it is “better late than never.”
. Ohio State Quilt
Ohio State Quilt
birthday girl with her Ohio State Quilt
Happy Birthday Cricut – Stampin Up card
My sister celebrated her birthday on August 15th and she is an avid Ohio State Fan. This is the card I made for her Birthday.
You will need
Ohio State Paper
Stampin Up paper – Real Red – Going Gray
50 States Cricut cartridge
Cuttin Up Cricut Cartridge
This was a short post since it was so easy. To order Stampin Up supplies, click here.
Birthday girl and family
Wedding card cut with the Cricut using Stampin Up paper
This is the fifth and final post on the Ronk Wedding. It is the card I made using my Cricut and Stampin Up paper.
You will need:
Wild Card cartridge
Wisteria Wonder & White Stampin Up card stock
Wisteria Wonder ink pad or marker
Road to Happiness stamp set
Versa mark ink
Silver embossing powder
sheet of vellum
rhinestones
ribbon
The card is a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of White paper folded in half. I cut the Wisteria Wonder images with the Wild Card cartridge. I put the couple and words on the front of the card and then added the sheet of vellum, ribbon and rhinestones.
Inside of the Wedding card cut with the Cricut using Stampin Up paper…
I embossed the car and cans with silver embossing and stamped the saying and wedding couple with Wisteria Wonder ink. These items may be purchased here.
…And they lived happily ever after
Notice the Groom kept with the umbrella wreath theme in his drink
Wedding Wish Jar
This is the forth in a series of posts on the Ronk Wedding. Cindy decided she would like to have the guest leave their wishes for the happy couple. She went to Hobby Lobby and purchased a large jar, chalkboard and purple Sharpies. To make the Wishing Jar you will need:
Items needed:
Stampin Up paper : Wisteria Wonder and Very Vanilla
“George” cartridge
Hearts for Wedding Wish Jar cut with Cricut
I cut the hearts with my Cricut. I set the size at 2 1/2 for the Wisteria Wonder and I selected the AUTO FILL button and cut the hearts. I then set the size at 2 1/4 and cut the Very Vanilla using the same feature. Using the AUTO FILL button with cut the maximum amount of the image you have selected. I then layered the hearts. You may purchase the paper by clicking here.
Vinyl Letter cut with Cricut for Wedding Wish Jar
I used the Cricut Craft Room to cut the letters for the sign. The instructions are on this post. I painted the chalkboard purple and put the letters on the sign. We placed the hearts in a wooden box that was our Grandma Stotts. Each guest placed their wish for the happy couple in the jar.
Wedding Wish Jar
Before the Happy Couple left for their honeymoon, the groom told me not to “read the wishes”. I am not sure what some of them were, but I am sure they will enjoy reading them when they return.
Wedding Favors
This is the third in a series of post on the Ronk Wedding. This is a short post since it is just for the favors. My sister picked the theme, “Lucky in Love” for her wedding. She started to think about ideas for the wedding and Lottery tickets came to mind. Cass and I got busy making the holders for the lottery tickets while Cindy’s daughter, Kathleen, made the suckers. The coffee mugs were also purchaced as a gift for the newyweds, by Kathleen. Within the last year we have had 3 other family weddings and the bride had purchased these coffee mugs for all three showers. Kathleen got online and bought them for the newyweds, since one of their favorite things to do is have their morning coffee on their deck.
You will need:
Wisteria Wonder & Very Vanilla Stampin Up paper
Scallop Edge Border punch
3/16″Corner punch
printed paper of your choice (we chose HI theme paper since that was were they were going for the honeymoon)
We used 12 x 12 inch paper and cut it to 6 x 4 so we could get 6 out of each sheet. We then scored the paper a 1 3/4″ and punched the bottom edge with the Scallop punch. We added printed paper and rounded the corners of the top of the ticket holder. We then printed the message on Very Vanilla. You may purchase most of the items here.
Up close picture of the Wedding favor, so you can see the saying
Shelby (groom’s daughter) Kathleen (bride’s daughter)
Wedding cupcakes
This is the second in my series on the Ronk Wedding. The theme for the wedding was “Lucky in Love”. The couple decided to forgo the traditional wedding cake and opted for cupcakes. Well our creative minds started working and we decided they needed a “topper”. I enlisted my trusty helper, Cass, to complete this task.
You will need:
1 3/8″ square punch
1 1/4″ square punch
crystal effects
Wisteria Wonder Stampin Up paper
Very Vanilla Stampin Up paper
round toothpicks
Font program for computer
These items can be ordered by clicking here. You can also choose from a variety of colors to match your wedding.
Wedding topper with Crystal Effects
We found Crystal Effects worked great for holding the toothpicks in place. Keep in mind the it does take a few hours to dry completely.
Use foam squares cut in half to put the squares together
You need the foam squares to raise the square so it will hold over the toothpick.
Finished cupcake with topper
Making a Wedding sign using the Cricut
This is going to be a series of posts for the Ronk Wedding. My sister got married on 8/11/2012 to the wonderful man in this picture. From the sign I am sure you can guess their names. The wedding took place at Bryan’s Place in Zanesville, Oh and there happened to be two weddings that day, so we needed a sign to “point the way,” to our wedding. This post is a mixed success story. It will tell you how to make the stencil for the sign and what NOT to do when painting. I can’t do everything just right, so I will let you learn from my not so successful tries. My sister, Cindy, saw a similar sign on Pinterest and had a friend of Dave’s make the sign. My job was to paint the words. I thought this would be a great opportunity to try out the Cricut Craft room and use a 12″ x 24″ mat. Cindy painted the sign and used, in her words,” a cheap foam roller.” She wanted to put it in their yard after the wedding, so she used white house paint. She then went to Sherwin Williams to purchase a “Color to Go” for the purple paint.
Purple was the color of choice for the wedding since it was my mother’s favorite color and it was a way to have her memory there with us on such an important day. One of my mother’s favorite things to tell us when we seemed to make bad “romance” choices was…”there’s plenty of garbage in the dump.” I think she was telling us we were looking for “love in all the wrong places.” This time my sister must have looked in the right place, because she got a “keeper” and my mother would have been delighted with her choice. Enough with the family saga.
On to the directions:
Cricut Craft Room- How to make a stencil
If you own a Cricut (any Cricut) and you have not yet downloaded the Cricut Craft Room you are really not using your Cricut to its full potential. It’s the is the best thing since “sliced bread”. ( Oh yea, we have always had sliced bread, but think about your Grandma.) You can download the Cricut Craft room from this link. It is well worth your time, it’s FREE and it is now very user-friendly. Feel free to email me if you think I can help you with any question about the Craft Room. In this picture I have already typed in the words I needed for my sign and “rotated” them to fit the 12 x 24 mat.
How to make a text box in the Cricut Craft Room
Once you enter the Cricut Craft Room you will see Green bars on the left hand side of the screen. Pick FONTS, then pick the font cartridge you are using, pick the size and click on ADD NEW TEXT BOX. Now for the really slick part. You just have to type the letters on your computer and the words will show up in the Text box. Once you are done with a line hit, DONE and place the box on the mat. ( At this point you can weld the words by going to Letter Spacing and hitting the down arrow and when the letters overlap, they will weld.) I did not weld on this project.
How to rotate an image or text box in the Cricut Craft Room
In most cases you will not have to do this step, which is to rotate the text box so it will cut on your Cricut. I had to rotate my text box because my words were longer than 12″. This was great, because it gave me a chance to try out the 12 x 24 mat. I had to click on each text box and highlight it and then go to SHAPE PROPERTIES and put 90 degrees in the rotate box. I then cut the image out of contact paper just like in my post “25 times 2”. Do not use the glass etching post where I reversed the image.
Now for what I thought would be the fun part.
Wedding sign with contact paper that was cut with the Cricut
So here we are and the RONK still has the contact paper on and the LUCKY IN LOVE has the paper off. Looks pretty good huh! Well wrong!!!! Look at this close up picture:
Boo Hiss…up close picture of Cricut sign
Look how fuzzy the image turned out. Now was the time to get out the crying towel, but Cass was there and I had to “buck up.” I believe the problem stemmed from the using the “cheap foam roller” to put on the house paint, if you look really close you can see the surface was a little rough. This is where I should have sanded, but I really thought I had the contact paper down so that the paint wouldn’t bleed, think again sister. I started thinking of what I could do to fix the situation. My first thought was to paint the sign purple and then cut the letters out of white vinyl. Then I remembered, I’m retired and have all this time on my hands. While Cassidy surfed the web for news about “Blake Shelton”, I spent @ two hours painstakingly painting around each and every letter. Thank heavens at one time Tole painting was one of my addictions. The finished product turned out great and now you have the instructions on how to use the Craft Room, so all is not lost.
Lesson learned: DO NOT try to stencil on an uneven surface It’s just doesn’t work no matter careful you think you are painting.
